An immigrant from southern Italy, the late Gennaro Fierro believed his son, Maurice, should learn a trade once he entered his teenage years.

“At the age of 13, I was put with the Mercantino family ... a father and two sons were tailors,” said Maurice Fierro, 92, of Hazleton. “It was a horrible first two weeks. I did not like the confinement, the work and all that went with tailoring.”

He remembered secretly crying with his mother, the late Grace DiScianni Fierro.

“The response from my mother was that it was a wish of your father and that settled it,” Fierro recalled. “I began to accept the tools of the trade.”

Decades later, Fierro continues to sew, although no longer for a living. He came to respect the decision of his father, who labored in the area’s coal mines to support his wife and nine children.

Fierro recently looked back on his apprenticeship, and an early sacrifice he made in order to learn the trade. As a student at the former D.A. Harman School, Fierro learned how to play the clarinet, and in high school, he was committed to after-school rehearsals.

“After a few rehearsals, Sally Mercantino said, ‘Maurizio, it is either tailoring or the clarinet,’” he recalled. “I don’t have to tell you of my decision.”

Fierro studied with the Mercantinos at their Broad Street shop until he graduated from the former Hazleton High School in 1943. A few months later, the 18 year-old was drafted.

Following training stateside and in the United Kingdom, Fierro and troops landed on the beaches of Normandy.

“I speak very little of this episode in my life,” he said.

Later in 1945, troops were sent to Germany.

“My trade showed up in the Hurtgen Forest during the Battle of the Bulge. It was cold. Fear of frostbite, I cut the woolen army blankets and made booties for our group to protect their feet,” he said.

After the war, he was sent to work at an interment camp with top Nazi officials, he said. On Dec. 25, 1945, he set sail for Hazleton.

It would take about two weeks to return. In 1946, he was discharged from the service.

“As an ex-GI we had the privilege of school and a $69 monthly stipend,” he explained. Fierro chose the Cybick School of Design in New York City to study pattern making, grading and tailoring of men’s and women’s coats and suits.

He then taught tailoring for some time.

Fierro married the former Doris Baran in 1949 and set up a small shop in his North Church Street home. He’d later build a larger shop.

He did quite a business, and even created ties, ascots, scarves and bow-ties for opera singer, Luciano Pavarotti. Fierro became friends with Pavarotti in 1968, when the tenor made his debut in the role of Rodolfo in “La Boheme” at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York City.

“Lucky me, I had no sign out front, no listing in the phone directory and the clients came to me by word of mouth where I did ladies’ coats and suits,” he said.

He continued crafting these items until his wife’s death in 2014.

Now, he visits his shop daily to work on bursettes, or small ladies’ purses, and to do alterations. And despite his age, he doesn’t need glasses to thread needles.

He stays active in other ways, too, including tending to a large backyard garden. Until his wife’s death, he skied and did other physical activities. He was a senior citizen when he picked up roller blading, a hobby that he also recently retired.

He exercises daily at home, and when he goes to large supermarkets, he uses a shopping cart as a walker.

“I go up and down the aisles and pick up a few items so I don’t look like an idiot. I never use escalators up, I use the stairs,” he noted.

When he looks back on his career — and his father’s wish — he has no regrets.

“It served me well and I made many people happy with my work,” he said.

Contact the writer: jwhalen@standardspeaker.com; 570-501-3592

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